Man City ace Nasri praises brave Clarets

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri was frustrated not to close the gap on leaders Chelsea to a point - but hailed Burnley for their brave approach at the Etihad.

The Clarets came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 on Sunday, as City failed to capitalise on Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Southampton earlier in the afternoon.

But rather than focus on the Blues’ shortcomings, he praised a positive Burnley approach, after their commitment to playing two forwards reaped dividends.

The France international said: “Yes, we’re frustrated for two reasons. We were aware of the result of Chelsea, and it was a great chance for us to be just one point behind.

“And we were winning 2-0 at home against a team who are playing for survival. But you have to say they played really good football - they were dangerous during the whole game, and I have so much respect for

managers who come here and try to play the game.

“We didn’t play the game we needed to. Maybe we were a little bit tired - but they played a really good game.”

Boss Manuel Pellegrini felt there was a touch of complacency about his side after going 2-0 up, but Nasri added: “There is no lesson to learn because we are playing for Manchester City against Burnley at home.

“So it’s not a lesson - we just have to be clinical. We have to score, kill the game sometimes because we can make mistakes.

“The first goal was offside but things happen, it wasn’t our day.”

Nasri had an effort turned round the post by Tom Heaton - his best stop of the afternoon, but he was not as busy as he might have expected at the champions, and the former Arsenal man added: “I had a chance myself. Sometimes it’s like this and not everything clicks.

“But the first 45 minutes we played well, we were 2-0 up, well on top against a team fighting to stay up.

“You cannot concede two goals like that in the second half. But we did it and now we have to focus again.”